For those who love apples and blackberries

Sounds like some of my blog posts!

Christmas 2.0

(HT: Z)

If a Larger Population meant more Land, this is what the World Map would look like...

And where would Australia, for example, be?!

(HT: 22 Words)

What You Celebrate as a Church Is Just as Important as What You Believe

This is so true, and so important.

Trevin Wax writes:

"What your congregation celebrates corporately is just as important as what your church affirms doctrinally. Celebrate the gospel, and cross-cultural ministry will bubble up in surprising ways. Celebrate your church’s preferential distinctions, and your congregation will become an insular group of like-minded individuals."

Do click over to his blog to read examples of what he means, and his justification for this statement.

Some more Quotes to think about

1. "To preach instead over people’s heads, is to forget who they are. As Spurgeon once commented, ‘Christ said, “Feed my sheep … Feed my lambs.” Some preachers, however, put the food so high that neither lambs nor sheep can reach it. They seem to have read the text, “Feed my giraffes” "

John Stott Between Two Worlds

(HT: Doug Wolter)


(Doug Wolter has also written another article worth thinking about : 7 reasons why Pastors should teach a Preschool Class





2. "I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are very wise and very beautiful; but I never read in either of them “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.” – Augustine

(HT: It's a Beautiful Gospel)

3.
"Of all hypocrites, grant that I may not be
an evangelical hypocrite,
who sins more safely because grace abounds,
who tells his lusts that Christ's blood
cleanseth them,
who reasons that God cannot cast him into hell,
for he is saved,
who loves evangelical preaching, churches,
Christians, but lives unholily.

A Puritan prayer from the book Valley of Vision.

(HT: Josh Harris)

How to speak Christianese

(HT: 22 Words)

Namrata's first birthday

It was such a joy to celebrate Namrata's birthday in Kerala, surrounded by the 24RR family. Arpita had taken a cake from Vellore.









We love you, so much, little girl! Though it has been such a short time, it feels like we have known you forever! You have added so much life and fun to our home. We are so glad God has given you to us.

(PS: more pictures from our Kerala trip can be found at Flickr)

Dad-da!

These are some of the most exhilarating and satisfying moments of the day....when Namrata tries to catch my attention with a loud "Dad-da!"

I think she enjoys it as much as I do!

I will put up a birthday post soon.....

Wow! She's WALKING!

For quite some time now, Namrata has been standing without support. However, she seemed scared to try and take her first steps. If she wanted to get from one place to the other, she would think about it for awhile.......then drop to all fours, and crawl!

Occasionally, if distracted by something in her hands, she would take the first couple of steps, and then, as soon as she realised what was happening, drop onto fours, as before.

A few days ago, she decided she had had enough, and then, all of a sudden, began trying to walk. It was hilarious.

However, she has already become a lot more confident and steady on her feet.

The next phase begins.........!

Advent Traditions

This season leading up to Christmas, we have been trying out a number of traditions.

Every Sunday, we have been trying to follow a free Advent book we found online Born a Child and Yet a King

We have been lighting Advent Candles, (and adding another candle every week up to Christmas) , and singing some amazing hymns. Today, we sang "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus", an amazingly beautiful hymn, full of rich meaning, and found that two of the verses were written as recently as 1978 by Mark Hunt (the other two verses were written in 1744 by Charles Wesley). It is difficult to find the complete lyrics on the internet (due to copyright issues), but you can find them in the Advent book I have mentioned earlier.

Everyday, we have been following Ann Voskamp's Jesse Tree Advent devotional book. Anand enjoys pinning up the picture for the day on his own home-made Jesse Tree.

Every night, before sleeping, inspired by Molly Piper's story, Arpita has been reading Luke chapter 2 aloud to Anand. He enjoys it. Yesterday, we were listening to a Gaither Vocal Band Christmas CD Still the Greatest Story Ever Told while eating, when Anand suddenly stopped eating, sat up straight, pointed to the CD player, and said, "Look, he's reading from Chapter Two!"

As we get closer to Christmas, we will take out our figurines and re-construct our nativity scene as we did last year.

I'm interested in knowing what traditions you are following.........